TRANSCRIPT
Chocolate lovers across Australia are feeling the pinch as higher prices have begun hitting the sweet shelves heading into Easter.
New data from RaboBank, the global agribusiness banking company, says the cost of key ingredient cocoa has more than doubled in 2024, causing Australian retail chocolate prices to shoot up 8.8 per cent over last year.
A RaboBank analyst, Pia Piggott, says that price bump will be affecting Easter chocolate too.
"In Easter, we have seen inflation as well at about 7.4 per cent. So a little bit lower than everyday chocolate but that's because Easter chocolate is already priced at a higher price point than everyday chocolate. We've also seen shrinkflation occur in the Easter category where the price remains the same but the volume declines."
This week, the price of cocoa beans has broken records, shooting past AU$15,432 a tonne on the New York Futures Exchange, making it more expensive than materials like copper.
This huge rise is due to a poor harvest season in Africa.
Cocoa is mainly produced in West Africa, with the Ivory Coast and Ghana being the two largest producers, accounting for nearly 60 per cent of the world's supply, says the International Cocoa Organisation.
Ms Piggott says there's been a range of factors affecting production.
"What's limiting cocoa supply is really that there's been adverse weather, aging trees and diseases in the cocoa trees, as well as the European Union deforestation regulation."
The International Cocoa Organisation says it is expecting to see a further decline in global cocoa supply of almost 11 per cent in the 2023/2024 season due to these ongoing issues related to weather and disease.
This significant shift has seen higher costs all along the supply chain with impacts on chocolate producers and retailers as well as on consumers themselves.
Arthur Lazarou is the owner of chocolate-making shop ChocolArts in the Sydney suburb of Gladesville.
He says it hasn't been easy for his business but he feels for the farmers at the centre of the cocoa shortage.
"We've seen some significant increases over the last two years. We understand where they're coming from. We've spent some time in Ghana. Essentially they're small farmers who make a living from a couple of acres and keep farming the cocoa for nine months of the year. It's tough."
Mr Lazarou says ChocolArts has has seen its costs rise by around 20 per cent this year alone.
He says they've been forced to pass some of this increase onto consumers but they've done their best to ensure a wide range of products at various prices.
"Our customers have been great - they understand where it's coming from and how our chocolates are made and they love the product and the quality of the chocolate. From our point of view, the best we can do is ensure we have a range of products here. A customer can walk in and spend $5.50 or $150."
Consumer group Finder says the average consumer spends about $62 a year on Easter chocolate, with these price increases likely to impact that figure.
And based on current cocoa production trends, the CEO of Saxo Bank Australia, Adam Smith, says those prices aren't likely to decline any time soon.
"I don't think we'll see price moderation until one of two things happens: either production comes back online to more normal levels or frankly we see price increases get to a point where there's a slowdown in demand."
